Carlos Sainz issued a defiant response to the Ferrari nay-sayers amid concerning reports about what is happening behind the scenes at Maranello.
Ferrari began the new season with just 12 points earned by Sainz in the Bahrain Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc might have finished on the podium had he not suffered an engine failure which forced him to retire and which has also led to a 10-place grid penalty for this weekend's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
But those things seem to be the least of their worries. Head of vehicle concept David Sanchez has already left the team and there are rumours that other members of staff are actively looking to move to other teams.
If paddock whispers are to be believed, not all is well at Maranello. But Ferrari have publicly denied any such issues and rubbished the claim that sporting director Laurent Mekies could also depart – which would be a real blow to new team principal Frederic Vasseur.
Sainz was toeing the party line as he was asked about the mood at Ferrari on Jeddah. Battling a sore throat, the Spaniard told reporters: "It is a lot better than what the news make it sound like.
"When you look back at this last week and how many rumours there's been around it seems like the place is not in a great moment. But I can tell you, it is so clear to us what we need to improve, how we need to do it, and what are the short, medium and long term targets."
He went on to criticise the Italian media, adding: "I actually am very surprised how some people back at home have been trying to destabilise a bit the team. Because some call it crisis – we've only done one race, it's impossible to judge the performance in this race.
"We are the first ones that are not happy with how this first race went and we are the most bothered about it. And we are the most affected by it. And we are going to try as much as possible to try and improve it. So yeah, I'm pretty calm about it and I see people at home committed, focused and with a very clear target in mind, and I include myself in it.
Vasseur had previously said something similar: "I'm having a hard time understanding how it is possible for the team to become a target to hit after just one race. We know what went wrong in Bahrain, but there's nothing that can't be improved. The correlation between the track and the simulator is good, we are aligned."
